


I Needed You

by mightypocketcow



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, M/M, Musician Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, musician au, platonic stony - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23027530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mightypocketcow/pseuds/mightypocketcow
Summary: A Musician!AU with a lot of angst, post-Civil War.  Written for Star-Spangled-Man-With-A-Plan's Multi-Fandom Follower Celebration like 3 months ago... Finally decided to post it here!Platonic Steve/Tony, established Bucky/Steve.  Everyone's a little gay.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Rhodey" Rhodes/Sam Wilson, Maria Hill/Pepper Potts, Platonic tho, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	I Needed You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starspangledmanwithaplan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starspangledmanwithaplan/gifts).



“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Over here!” 

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, what is your reaction to the rumours about Steve Rogers’ new band?”

“Mr. Stark! Are the Avengers really never getting back together?”

“Mr. Stark, are you planning any reunion tours with Bruce Banner and Thor? Mr. Stark!”

The aforementioned Mr. Stark sighed, still silently pushing his way through the crowd. He can hear his personal bodyguard, Happy Hogan, repeatedly tell the reporters, “Mr. Stark has no comment,” as they try to get to the building up ahead. 

For once, would it kill them to just call him Tony? Nobody outside his closest friends ever called him anything except Mr. Stark, and it made him feel old.

“Mr. Stark! Is it true you’re adopting Peter Parker after the death of his parents?”

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark! Look at the camera!”

“Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark, is it true you’ve broken up with your ex-producer, Pepper Potts?”

That one made him freeze in his tracks. The reporter seemed to realize he’d gotten his attention, because he continued, “She seems to be getting rather cozy with her former client, Mr. Aldrich Killian. They’ve been spotted leaving hotels together. How do you feel about her moving on so quickly?”

He turns to the reporter, his entire body tense. “Pepper and I were never together, but she’s not sleeping with Killian if that’s what you’re really after. He’s married, and she’s seeing someone.” He regrets the last part of his sentence as soon as it comes out of his mouth, but he continues into the silence (other than the flashing of cameras) anyways. “You people really need to get a real hobby. My personal life, Pepper’s personal life, Steve’s personal life, even Killian’s personal life… all our personal lives are not your business. We perform and we entertain on a stage; what we do with our own time off the stage shouldn’t be for your entertainment too. Just get out of our faces.”

He whips around quickly, and continues towards the building, ignoring all the questions that suddenly fill the void left by his statement.

“Mr. Stark! Are you going to be pressing charges for invasion of privacy?”

“Do you know who Pepper is seeing? Is it James Rhodes?”

“If you and Pepper were never together, who did you write ‘Love Story’ about? Are you currently seeing someone?”

He walks faster, maneuvering his way around the throng of reporters and photographers who won’t leave him alone. It’s none of their damned business who he wrote that song about… but the idea of Pepper and Rhodey being together makes him laugh in his mind, if he’s honest. Even if Pepper were interested in men – which she isn’t – Rhodey wouldn’t be high on the list anyways. He and Sam Wilson have been together for a long time and that’s not failing anytime soon.

“Mr. Stark, are you aware of the rumours going around that Steve Rogers plans to file a copyright lawsuit in order to be able to sing the songs he wrote for The Avengers on his solo tours without having to pay claims?”

He scoffs to himself, and he’s never been so happy to see the sight of Happy opening a door for him. That rumour just wasn’t true at all… Steve would never do that to him. No matter what had happened in their past, Steve wouldn’t do something like that without talking to him first. And Steve would know that Tony would never let it get that far; Tony would have no problem with Steve singing their songs in his solo tours, and would agree to anything Steve asked of him in that regard… or in any regard, really.

Holy fuck, Tony thinks, he still misses him, doesn’t he?

A wordless exclamation of joy broke Tony from his thoughts, and he snaps back into reality just in time to see Pepper Potts throw her arms around him in a hug. 

He closes his eyes and smiles into her hair, returning the embrace; it had been a while since the friends had seen each other, and there was no person in the world he’d rather be with than Pepper.

Except, of course…

“Steve?” His heart stops as he opens his eyes and sees him past Pepper’s shoulder.

The blond man gives him a soul-piercing stare with his bright eyes, but it’s coupled with a grin that would melt the ice off the Arctic itself. “Hey, Tony.”

Two years. Two years since he’s seen Steve Rogers. Two years since their massive fight; what Pepper called the ‘Civil War’ between The Avengers. Two years since he said those horrible things about Steve’s partner, Bucky. Two years since Steve warned him to back off and he didn’t listen. Two years since he decided not to press charges for the broken nose Bucky gave him. Two years since The Avengers stopped recording music together. Two years since Bruce cried when he told him the news.

Two years since the worst day of his life.

He slowly lets go of Pepper, who looks between the two men with a sad smile. He takes a step towards Steve, tentative and nervous. 

Steve takes a few steps towards Tony, and opens his arms for a hug.

Tony hesitates for only a fraction of a second before rushing into them. The feeling is familiar and comforting, and it only makes him want to cry a little bit.

Oh, who are we kidding? Tony definitely starts crying.

Steve chuckles to himself as he runs his hands through the shorter man’s hair, truly not at all worried about the tear stains that will surely be on his shirt in a few moments.

“Steve…” Tony whimpers, clutching the shirt in his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I missed you so much, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s over now, Tony.” Steve replies simply, and his response is so nonchalant that Tony stops crying for a moment to look up at him in confusion. “We’ve moved past it. We’re not mad anymore; we haven’t been for a long time.”

Tony’s face flushes red. Here he was, sitting on such massive guilt for two years that it had become a regular routine for Rhodey to stop by his condo on the way home from work in order to take the alcohol out of his firm, semi-conscious grip and half-carry him to his bed from the couch, and sit with him while he cries for an hour about how much he fucked up before he finally passes out and wakes up to a glass of water, two aspirin, and an Alcoholics Anonymous flier from Sam’s work that he tosses into the recycling bin… and Steve and Bucky weren’t even thinking about it?

Did they even care? Did they miss him at all? Why was Steve even here if they didn’t care enough to even be mad? Was Steve here just to gloat about his new band? Was he here to rub his nose in how much he didn’t need Tony anymore? What gives him the right to be so calm when Tony had been such a mess for two years?

All of those thoughts came racing through his head, but what came out was –

“You’re not mad?”

“No, Tony. We’re not mad. I’m not mad. Bucky’s not mad.”

“Then why…?” Why was he here? Why hadn’t he come back before? Why now, after all this time?

Two years of being apart hadn’t affected Steve’s ability to read Tony like a book. “We thought you were still mad. I didn’t want to hurt you or upset you… but Sam finally tattled on you after what happened this weekend.”

Tony’s grip on Steve’s shirt tightened. Of course he did. Of course Sam tattled. Because of course Pepper had to be his emergency contact when he was admitted into the hospital for alcohol poisoning. And of course Pepper had to call Rhodey, who brought Sam, and Happy, who brought Peter, and of course Peter and Sam both had to get all emotional about it, and of course Sam had to make him promise to go to an AA meeting, and of course he had to be guilted into it by the look on Peter’s face. 

Of course they told Steve.

“Tony…” Steve gently pries Tony’s fingers open, caressing the back of his hands as he holds them against his chest. “I’m not angry at you. I’m not going to lecture you. I’m just concerned about you.”

“Why do you care?” Tony speaks without thinking, and the hurt that shoots across Steve’s face and the shock in Pepper’s eyes betrays how unusual it is for Tony to snap like this, but he doesn’t care at this moment. He looks down at his feet to avoid eye contact. “Why, after two years of ‘radio silence’, of not being here when I needed you, are you concerned about me now? Why would you just drop off the radar and suddenly come back? Why do you just suddenly give a shit?” Before Steve can reply, he continues. “You know what? I don’t believe you. I don’t believe that you just suddenly care again. You just want to save face for the press.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Tony.” Steve says darkly. Tony, startled to hear this tone in his voice, looks up. Steve’s face is a mixture of emotions; anger and betrayal, pity and concern… love, even still, after all this time. “We never stopped caring about you. That’s why we – ” He pauses. “That’s why I didn’t return. I didn’t want to hurt you. I wanted to come back as soon as I left. But if you weren’t ready to accept my – our – apologies, I wasn’t going to force you to.”

“I wanted your apology!” Tony shouted, shoving away from Steve in anger. “I wanted it more than anything! I needed to know that you still cared! I needed that more than I needed air! Why do you think I took up drinking again?”

“I didn’t know, Tony.”

“Oh, and Sam hasn’t been tattling on me for two years? You expect me to believe that?”

“Sam hasn’t said anything until now.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. Sam said that he and Rhodey decided not to get in the middle of this, that they weren’t going to start telling us about each other. It wouldn’t be fair to their relationship; too many secrets.”

Tony says nothing. He didn’t want to believe Steve, and yet…

“Think about it, Tony. Have you heard anything about me or Bucky in the last two years?”

“…no.”

He smiles softly. “And there’s so many things that you should have heard.” He holds up his left hand, where a gold band with tiny inset diamonds glitters on his ring finger. “Like this, for example.”

Tony’s breath hitches, and tears of joy spring to his eyes. His hands fly to his mouth. “Really??” He whispers. 

Steve grins widely. “Really.”

“Oh, finally, Rogers!” He throws his arms around Steve again, laughing. “I’m so happy for you two!”

“Thanks, Tony. We’re so excited about it.”

“So…” He looks into Steve’s eyes again, smirking. “When is the wedding?”

Steve chuckles lightly. “Actually, we haven’t started planning yet.”

“What?” Tony looks scandalized. “Why not?”

“Because I hadn’t talked to my best man in two years, and he wouldn’t be there to sing the song he wrote for us.”

Tony’s eyes start filling with tears again. He’d never actually admit out loud that he wrote ‘Love Story’ for Steve and Bucky, but Steve must have figured it out, just as he figures everything else out. “Oh, Steve…”

“So, what do you say, Tony? Will you be my best man?”

“Of course I will. Of course I will!” Tony claps his hands. “Oh, Steve, I have so many ideas! Can I help you plan? Please?”

Steve laughs, throwing his head back. “Tony, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Tony claps his hands again, then he suddenly stops, remembering something from his earlier adventure with the reporters. “Does this mean you’re not suing me for rights to sing your songs solo or with your new band on your tours?”

“New band?” Steve’s brows furrow. “I don’t have a new band.”

“Oh. I just heard you, uh, had a new band…” Tony feels sheepish; he knows how bad the media can be for rumours, he should have known better.

“I never said I had a new band. But I did want to talk to you…” Steve takes a deep breath. “I wouldn’t mind bringing The Avengers back together. If you’re okay with that.”

Tony’s heart has stopped beating. “Are you serious?”

“I do want more members.” Steve says quickly. “I want to open it up, I think just the four of us again would be lonely. And it would be nice to have more talent. A bigger spectrum.”

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

“Sam and Rhodey…” He says softly. “And Wanda, and she wants to talk to her brother too. Maybe Peter, when he’s old enough. And Sam met this guy named Scott, apparently he’s a really good drummer…”

Steve continues talking, but Tony zones out. He can’t believe this is happening; if you told him this morning, in all his hangover glory, that he would be standing here in the lobby of Shield Records, talking to Steve Rogers about getting The Avengers back together… He wouldn’t have believed you.

But here he was. Here they were. And they were together. And they could face whatever came their way together.

Then again, everybody is scared of Pepper, so he may be on his own when she finds out he told the press she was seeing someone…

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Be safe and healthy, and have a great day!


End file.
